loving art, science and creative kids
12/26/2015 12:23:42 AM
It’s Fiesta Time
acrylic painting/ 24” by 18” / $450
Love it? or hate it? Holidays bring out many emotions.
Several weeks ago I participated in a discussion group where participants shared their feelings about the holidays. Approximately one-third said they found the long dark days of winter and the season’s hoop-la depressing. Another third were saddened by nostalgic remembrances from their the past. The last group claimed to enjoyed the commotion brought on by the season. They embrace it’s darkness and are made cheerful by Christmas lights brightening city streets, and like participating in the numerous festivities planned by family and friends.
I happen to identify with the last group. Chaos, noise, and mounds of dishes are never a bother, though my back often creaks. I spend months looking for perfect gifts and happily wrap them in my basement surrounded by ribbons and bows while listening to jazz. I have always associated the winter with family, friends, and parties, and I love the way twinkling lights create a festival atmosphere. For me it is Fiesta time!
Though my holiday is not as bustling as it once was, I make a point of never looking back. Instead I embrace the future, knowing I will have contact with my children, grandchildren and friends in 2016. These days I take pleasure in seeing happy faces while walking down the street or shopping for groceries. Those I pass seem kinder, gentler and smile more, often sharing greetings of holiday cheer.
Throughout the ages people have found reasons to celebrate during the month of December. Religious as well as secular practices were developed as a way of remembering that life has cycles, the seasons change, the sun will return, the son will return, there is hope for mankind and there is much goodness in the world. Festivities have a way of drawing people together, reinforcing a sense of community and shared values.
The holidays are also a time to care for those who are sick, poor and lonely, who need special attention due to circumstances beyond their control. My heart goes out to those fleeing Syria and other war infested countries. There is sadness in their misfortune, yet there is also opportunity for the rest of us to help. Giving swells hearts. It is why there is an increase in charitable donations, gift buying for the needy and invitations to guests who are alone. Caring for others demonstrates the best part of our nature.
For the past year I have used this blog to discuss a great many societal problems. Now I celebrate the goodness and humanity I see in family and friends. Thank you for the warmth and happiness you have brought me during the past year. Your comments have been astute — a gift — adding to my personal growth. Please enjoy my Fiesta, and best wishes for the holiday season and most special New Year.
12/18/2015 12:39:58 PM
Family in a Turkish Village
acrylic painting / 24” by 48” / $ 690.00
War of Ideologies
Political candidates shout about making America strong again making me wonder what they really mean. Their words imply military might. Is that where America gets its strength?
They talk of war and fighting ISIS, with no discussion of why so many youth take up the call of Jihad. Their solutions are directed to increasing military spending, decreasing our privacy by freely accessing phone and internet messages, targeting peaceful Muslims, and “bombing the hell out of them” irrespective of whether innocent victims are killed. My head spins and my stomach churns when hearing candidates talk sound bites rather than strategic planning. It reminds me of how Hitler came to power, how he rallied Germans by making the Jews the enemy.
There is no doubt we have a serious threat that has to be handled on many fronts, but an important one is being ignored . . . reinvigorating what made America great in the first place. It was not military might that made immigrants want to come to this country, but the values we professed and the economic possibility for a better life. It was our humanity, the Bill of Rights, the vote, the ability disagree without being put in jail, and the respect given to man, woman and child despite race or religious preference. It was the idea of America as a melting pot and the belief that together we are stronger than any one individual.
ISIS too has a vision of a society, and use their ideology to attract revolutionaries to their cause. It is one in which men make decisions, provide for their families, and live strictly according to Sharia law. Their utopia maintains leadership though control and fear, yet somehow they are able to entice people to make the ultimate sacrifice for rewards after death.
The reality of how a select group of men at the top are getting wealthy and powerful by controlling water and oil is not spelled out in their propaganda. The fact that many revolutionaries are not practicing Muslims is kept quiet. Battle lines they established are philosophical and to fight them we have to answer in-kind. ISIS promotes their version of a good society and we must demonstrate why our way is better. Youth embraces utopian ideals. They want to make a better world. Let’s show them the way.
If the values that established our nation are believable then we must live by them. We should teach children our ideology and speak of it day and night. And we should implore the media to help instead of putting fuel on our advisories’ fire. They have a chance to play an important role by turning a negative, gossipy reporting style upside-down. Rather than feature the worst parts of our nature, I would appreciate equal time given to how neighbor helps neighbor, the richness of our freedoms, and the way so many more people than not do try to live by values imbedded in the constitution. Share with the world a vision of a democratic society that was, and still is, the dream of those who want to be free. We can develop an economy that works for all, so that youth don’t feel that their future is hopeless so they are willing to stay to develop their skills.
If the media— and I include bloggers in this comment — continues to hammer ugliness, if politicians don’t work together for the common good, and if citizens do not take responsibility for making sure that our system of government works, then we are no greater than ISIS. We can and we must do better.
Yes, this is a philosophical war and it is time to remind our citizens how precious and fortunate we are to be Americans. It is also a time to understand why other’s might like to live here so we can make appropriate accommodations to those who do respect our values.
This is an important topic and I would appreciate hearing your comments below.
Art work is always for sale. Please contact me at [email protected].
12/11/2015 8:49:26 PM
View from La Jolla
Acrylic on Canvas: 27” by 32”/ $ 499.
It’s All About Water!
A short while ago I read a book titled The First Americans: In Pursuit of Archaeology’s Greatest Mystery by Jake Page. It was fascinating to learn of cultures that were in this country as far back as 40,000 years. Previous Archaeological thinking had suggested that the Clovis people, a name taken from the arrow points they made, came over the land mass in the Bering Straits approximately 12,000 years ago. It has been quite a struggle to convince Clovis diehards that the Americas were populated before that time.
The part that fascinated me most, however, had to do with arguments made around advances and receding of the various ice ages. What stuck in my memory is that these climate changes occurred rapidly and not over tens of thousands of years as I had previously thought.
In paying attention to the Paris talks and listening to climatologists speak of rising sea levels, I am reminded that hundreds of thousands of people will face displacement. As mentioned in my last newsletter, “When we speak of migrations from Syria, we haven’t seen anything like what will happen when low lying countries are flooded.
This week my cousin’s wife brought to my attention an article about the Quinault Indian Tribe in Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. They gained recent press by taking it’s environmental plea to Paris. The tribe has a small village at the mouth of the Quinault River, relying on a sea wall that was recently repaired by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to protect them from the encroaching Pacific Ocean. The temporary fix will not last, so the tribe has decided that it is going to have to move their 700 members, school, court, police and homes to another location.
The tribe has also experienced the drying of a glacier that used to bring cool water during the summer. Now the river’s low water level effects salmon runs that support the Indian Nation.
Those who live in coastal cities throughout the world are going to have to prepare now by protecting natural shoreline buffers and building protective barriers. Without preparation, coastal wetlands, that protect the shore from flooding are going to be damaged, leaving local wildlife with less habitat.
Of the 20 countries the largest populations at risk from flooding are in China at about 50 million people, followed by Vietnam, Japan, India, and Bangladesh. By percentage of population the Netherlands is first at 47%, then Vietnam, Thailand and Japan. The US is not immune, with about 3.1 million people at risk.
Other causes of projected migration have to do with desertification of land due to global warming, over grazing of animals, and expansion of crop-growing ares. These are among the reasons that have led to fighting in the middle east today. Areas like the Amazon also are in danger of becoming deserts due to deforestation. Forests and rivers running dry affect wildlife and drinking sources, contributing to war over who controls water resources.
It is important not to bury our heads but to take action, to prepare for a future with continuous mass migrations. The climate summit in Paris is rightfully concerned with decreasing greenhouse gasses but that is not enough. A second world wide conference needs to be called to prepare for widespread displacement of populations due to climate change.
I look forward to reading your comments below.
Artwork is always for sale. Please contact me at [email protected].
References:
http://www.npr.org/2015/12/01/455745765/facing-rising-waters-a-native-tribe-takes-its-plea-to-paris-climate-talks - About the Quinault tribe.
http://www.weather.com/science/environment/news/20-countries-most-risk-sea-level-rise-20140924 - 20 most at risk countries.
http://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/kids/impacts/effects/coastal.html - about climate change and coastal regions.
http://www.worldpreservationfoundation.org/topic.php?cat=climateChange&vid=23#.VmdmXISsZHg - desertification.
12/4/2015 5:06:02 PM
I AM AS I BECOME
Creativity Insight
In Life as a Museum Junkie, I discuss creativity and the ability to problem solve. The subject is important since I embraced a career that valued inventiveness and honored ideas. Though I thought of myself as a creative person, I was always afraid of losing my edge, unable to solve the complex issues that faced me daily. As an artist I wondered about the source of my next inspiration, concerned about my ability to express on canvas the thoughts I had in my mind.
I spent quite a bit of time researching what makes one person more creative than another. I wondered if creativity could be learned or if it was entirely a genetic gift given to you from your parents. What I discerned is that not only does environment plays a big role in developing the ability to think creatively but that there are tricks to be learned that can stimulate the imaginative process.
An example: A practice developed to stimulate imaginative thinking, is to identify two unrelated activities and braid them together in order to solve a problem. The problem presented to me as a class exercise was to find a new use for those hollow plastic eggs ( activity #1) that surface at Easter and Christmas just waiting to be filled with candy. The second pairing ( activity 2) was to let my mind take a mental walk through the isles of a supermarket while trying to develop innovative uses. When my creativity class gathered to share suggestions we came up with 86 ideas including a holder for plant starts, a baby mobile, and musical rattles.
The challenge to remain creative remains with me in retirement and fear of losing my way enters my consciousness every once in a while. But recently I had a prolific experience that has put these fears to rest. It added to my understanding of creativity and made me realize that just because I am older does not mean enduring a life of mediocre thinking. It reinforced the exercise I learned earlier, that of putting together of two disparate entities to develop a solution to a problem.
Today’s problem: Most of my writing to date is labeled as non-fiction. When attending writing critique groups I am constantly being told to put more emotion into the words of my characters and to write more like a fiction writer. Listening to others whose fertile minds produce fictional stories often mesmerizes me. I admire their work immensely, wishing I could be as inventive, but t had always been afraid try.
The introduced element: In addition to writing I exercise daily. Recently I joined a new class offered by my NIA (Non-Impact Aroebic) instructor. She asks students to dance freely and emotionally for an hour. It was quite difficult at first and I wondered how was I going to survive the class? At 7 AM I do not feel very emotional and am mainly pleased to be able to get myself out of bed at 6:15 in order to arrive at my club in time.
I decided that the only way for me to generate emotional feeling was to make up a story and dance to it. So I mentally concocted a crazy trip to the mountains where I discovered a small hole in the rocks that upon entering its narrow passageway winds up in a cathedral like cavern. I had to enter the passageway with daring, crawling like a worm, squirming through the black cave in fear. I cried out in exasperation at my foolishness. But as I continued there was a moment of ecstasy when I reached a large cavern filled with stalagmites and stalactites, lit by a stream of light from above. You probably get the idea by now. The story was a prop to get me to dance my emotions, but what really surprised me as I worked out the details of my tale and started to add complexity to the story, is that I wanted to go home and write it down.
Now I have the start of a novel that has intrigue, mystery, good and mean characters. It is so much fun to work on that I find it difficult to do anything else. When I get stuck or can’t understanding my characters’ intention or emotions I take the situation to the next class and dance it out, realizing that the personalities are all a part of my own psyche. Now I find that both exercise and writing routines are thriving in each other’s company, and I am pleased to have discovered another trick to add to my arsenal to maintain creativity.
Each of you, my readers, may have developed your own strategies to help you develop new ideas and ways to solve problems. It would be wonderful if you would share them at eichingerfineart.com/blog.
The photo above is was made while sitting in an airplane and messing around with my tablet.
